Russian communications agency blocks websites writing about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Iryna Balachuk – Tuesday, 1 March 2022, 06:32 AM

Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media has started a mass blocking of Russian websites that write about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Source: Taiga.info, DOXA, TB2. News of Tomsk and Siberia, Russian "Interfax"

Details: Siberian website Taiga.info, which has been publishing news about the war of Ukraine online, is one of the websites that have been blocked.

Taiga.info wrote that the so-called "special operation" in Donbas was in fact a full-scale offensive across the entire territory of Ukraine, that Russian troops are shelling Kyiv and other cities, that civilians are dying due to Russia’s actions, and that foreign countries have been closing their airspace to Russian aircraft.

DOXA, an independent student journal, has published "A Handbook for Anti-War Disputes at Home and at Work."

The authors of this handbook have denounced Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and wrote about Russian missiles striking residential buildings and kindergartens all across Ukraine. They shared links to the official web pages of the Ukrainian government that reported the deaths of Russian troops while Russian authorities were withholding information about the dead Russians.

The online news agency "TB2. News of Tomsk and Siberia" was shut down because of its online reporting on the war.

According to a Taiga.info Twitter post: "Dear friends, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media has blocked our online materials about the war. We don’t understand what they want from us but the officials told us that we had to remove those materials from our website in order to be able to continue working. However, they are still blocking our website. Soon we will launch a new one. Meanwhile, while you can, subscribe to our Telegram channel."

Details: Taiga.info said that the website was blocked because their "online news about world events published on 28 February contained prohibited information."

Taiga.info published a quote from the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications letter to the editors. In it, the regulator states that the website contained "information material about the so-called invasion of Russia in Ukraine. According to official sources, in particular the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, this information does not correspond to reality, seeds panic among the people, and creates conditions for mass violations of public order and safety."

Taiga.info editors said that the warning about the blocking of the website came at 3:25am, when the journalists "were trying to get some sleep," and that the website was blocked "almost immediately," meaning that the editors were not even given any time to comply [with the request to remove information].

Taiga.info also stated that it had to comply with the requirements of the Federal Communications Service and remove the material from their website in order to continue working. However, on the morning of 1 March, they continued to post online about the 6th day of the Russian war in Ukraine.

The DOXA website also stressed that they were blocked illegally, as less than 24 hours have passed since receiving the notification from the Federal Communications Service.

DOXA readers are currently actively sharing an archive page of the guide to the war in Ukraine.

"TV2. News of Tomsk and Siberia" stated that they removed their online materials after they had been blocked, but some pages about the Russian war in Ukraine can still be accessed by following the links from the publication’s Telegram channel.

Earlier, the Federal Communications Service sent a request to ten Russian media outlets to "remove fake news" about the actions of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine. The regulator launched an administrative investigation into these facts, warning of liability in the form of fines of up to 5 million rubles.

The Russian regulator is using the term "fake news" to describe all material about the shelling of Ukrainian cities by Russian troops, the deaths of civilians [at the hands of the Russian military] in Ukraine, as well as material in which Putin’s so-called "operation" is called an attack, invasion, or declaration of war.

According to the Russian Interfax, the regulator’s requests were received by "Echo of Moscow", "InoSMI", "Mediazone" (declared a foreign media agent), "New Times", "Rain" (declared a foreign media agent), "Free Press", "Crimea.Realities" (declared a foreign media agent), "Novaya Gazeta", "Journalist" (declared a foreign media agent), and "Lenizdat."

Why this matters: On the night of 24 February, Russia attacked Ukraine. Its troops are shelling residential neighbourhoods throughout Ukraine. At the same time, Russia is blocking its citizens’ access to truthful information. It is blocking Ukrainian websites that publish photos and videos of Russian soldiers killed and captured on our land. At the same time, it is doing nothing to allow Russian mothers to bring home their dead sons. It is broadcasting propaganda on its TV channels about the alleged "nazis and drug addicts" in Ukraine and is detaining people who protest against the war.